1  -&.  yll^-^^- 


1 

1 

1  • 

PRINCETON,    N.     J 

Wie.sr»/n//y.  Y\ .  YY\\Avm^A  . 

'  :::"#S$^ 

Sktif. 

A^uinii^  >' 

THE 

CHRISTIAN   DITTY   OF  OHHISTLAJT   IVOiyiEN. 


DELIT£R£D 

IN  THE  CHURCH  OF  PRINCETON,  NEW-JERSEV, 
AUGUST   2a,   1826, 

BEFORE    TH£ 

Princeton  jFewjile  Sbotietfi, 

FOR   THE    SUPPORT  OF 

A    rEMALE     SCHOOL    IN    INDIA. 


BY  ASHBEL    GREEN,    D.  D. 


PUBLISHED  AT  THE  BEQUEST  OF  THE  SOCIETY 


PRATED  FOR  THE  SOCIETY,  BY  JD.  Jl.  BORRF^\'STEL\ 


THE    CHRISTIAN    DUTY 

OF 


MARK  XIV.  8.  First  part. 
''SHE  HATH  DOJVE   WHAT  SHE  COULD.—' 

These  words  are  found  in  the  narrative  of  a  very  inter- 
esting incident  in  the  life  of  our  blessed  Redeemer.     Six 
days  bcfoi'e  the  Jewish  Passover  at  which  he  entered  on 
his   last   sufferings,    a   supper,    or   festival  entertainment, 
was  made  for  him,  at  Bethany  ;  a  village  in  the  environs 
of  Jerusalem,  frequently  mentioned  in  the  evangelical  his- 
tory, and  particularly  memorable  as  the  residence  of  La- 
zarus, whom   he   raised  from  the  dead.     The  supper  was 
made  at  the  house  of  one  Simon,  a  leper  :  who,  it  is  high- 
ly probable,   had  been  cleansed  by  tiie    miracidous  power 
of  Christ.      Lazarus  was   a  guest,    at  this   entertainment, 
which  some  suppose  was  made,   either  wholly  or   in  part, 
at  his  exj)enso  ;    and  his  sisters,  Martha  and  JNlary,  were 
both   present.     With   her  characteristick  activity,  Martha 
served  at  the  supper-table  ;    and  Mary  with   her  wonted 
reverential  luve  to  her  J^ord  and  Redeemer,  and  animated, 
no  doubt,  with  the  liveliest   gratitude  for  the  interposition 
of  his  almighty  power,  in  calling  her  beUn-ed  brother  from 
the  tomb,  gave  him  on  this  occasion  a  signal  expression  ol 
her  sense  of  obligation,  and  of  the  high  estimation  in  wliich 
she  wished  that  others  should   hohl   him.     She   had  made 
preparation  for  this  expression   of  her  gratitude  and   love. 


4 

by  procuring  an  Alabaster  box  of  the  most  costly  and  fra- 
grant ointment,  such  as  was  then  used  about  the  persons  of 
individuals  the  most  distinguished  by  birth  or  office  ;  that 
with  this  she  might  anoint  her  benefactor,  whom  she  alsoi 
knew  to   be    the    long    expected  Messiah,    the  Prince    of 
peace.      His  recumbent  attitude,    then  always  in   use,   at 
the  supper  table,  was  peculiarly  favourable  to  her  design. 
Approaching  him  in  this  reclining  posture,    she  broke  the 
box  of  liquid  Nard,  and  poured  it  first  on  his  head,   and 
afterwards  on  his  body  and  his  feet.     And  then,  while  the 
house  was  filled  with  the  odour  of  the  ointment,  this  holy 
devoted  woman  kneeled  at  the   feet  of  Jesus,   and  wiped 
them  with  the  flowing  tresses  of  her  hair — Christian  sisters 
— Are  you  not  tempted  to  envy  your  sister  Mary  ?    To 
envy  the  opportunity  she  had  to  express  in  this  striking 
and  affecting  manner,   her  humble,   ardent  attachment,  to 
your  common  and   adored  Redeemer  ?    Envy  not  but  imi- 
tate her.     Opportunities  still  occur  to  express  love  and 
gratitude  to  your  unseen  Saviour,   by  acts  as  acceptable  to 
him  as  that  of  Mary  was  ;  and  which  he  will  ere  long,  ac- 
knowledge and  reward  before  the  assembled  universe. 

Who  would   expect  that  any  disciple  of  Christ  could 
have  disapproved  of  the  testimonial  of  reverence  and  es- 
teem, which  he  received  from  the  sister  of  Lazarus.     Who 
would    not  rather  expect,   that  the  whole  company  must 
have  seen  it  with  delight,    and  have   applauded  the  happy 
ingenuity  by  which  it  had   been  devised,   and   the  lovely 
enthusiasm — shall  I  not  call   it  ? — with  which  the   device 
was  executed.     But  it  was  not  so.     Judas  was  among  the 
guests.     He,  it  has  commonly  been  believed,  had  been  ap- 
pointed the  purse-bearer  of  tlie  holy  family,  from  his  re- 
puted integrity,   care  and  capacity,   in  the  management  of 
pecuniary  concerns.     His  opinion,   therefore,   on  a  point 
of  economy,  especially  when   that  which  might  be  saved, 
was  to  be  given  to  the  poor,   wouW  naturally  have  much 


weight  with  his  fellow  apostles  ;  knowing,  too,  as  they 
well  did,  that  their  Master  had  never  affected  worldly 
honours,  nor  required  any  extraordinary  expenditure,  for 
his  own  gratification.  They,  therefore,  joined  in  the 
murmuring,  which  began  with  Judas — not  suspecting  that 
he  was  hypocrite,  thief  and  traitor  all  in  one  ;  and  that  he 
only  wished  that  the  "  Three  Hundred  pence"  (about  fifty 
dollars  of  our  money)  for  which  "the  ointment  might  have 
been  sold,"  should  have  been  added  to  the  common  stock, 
that  he  might  carry  off  a  richer  prize,  when  he  should  ab- 
scond with  the  whole  ;  which,  it  appears,  he  had,  about 
this  time  determined  to  do — Not  in  the  least  suspecting 
any  thing  of  all  this,  the  other  disciples  were  influenced 
by  the  suggestions  of  a  base  and  wicked  avarice,  to  join 
m  the  murmur,  that  there  had  been,  on  the  part  of  Mary, 
a  profligate  waste  of  property,  which  might  have  been  ap- 
plied to  a  better  purpose. 

The  whole  of  this  murmuring,  Christian  friends,  both 
in  its  origin  and  tendency,  was  in  my  apprehension  ex- 
ceedingly like  the  complaints  which  we  have  lately  heard, 
from  certain  quarters,  that  much  money  is  wasted — is  wan- 
tonly and  foolishly  thrown  away — in  professed  attempts 
to  honour  Christ  by  sending  his  gospel  to  the  heathen  and 
the  Jews. 

But  the  Saviour  vindicated  Mary,  and  reproved  licr 
calumniators.  Her  views  of  duty,  dictated  by  her  liberal 
spirit,  and  her  warm  and  generous  heart,  were  far  more 
correct  than  their  calculatinj;  and  cold  blooded  reasonins" 
on  the  subject.  The  Saviour  reminded  them,  that  every 
duty  must  have  its  proper  time  and  place.  The  poor  the}' 
would  always  have  with  them,  and  would  never  be  with- 
out an  opportunity  to  show  them  kindness,  "but  me,  said 
he,  ye  have  not  always." — His  departure  from  them  was 
now  just  at  hand,  and  whatever  tokens  of  their  regard  he- 
was  to  receive,    must  be  speedily  bcstownd,  or  the  oppor- 


6 


tunily  for  bestowing  them  would  be  past  forever.  It  is 
not  probable,  indeed,  that  Mary,  any  more  than  the  apos- 
tles, supposed  that  Christ,  before  the  expiration  of  that 
very  week,  was  to  suffer  the  death  of  crucifixion.  It  was 
the  ardour  of  her  affectionate  reverence  for  her  Lord,  which 
prompted  her  to  do  what  she  had  done.  But  she  had  done 
what  was  right  in  itself;  and  the  overruling  providence 
of  God  had  so  ordered  it,  that  this  honourable  anointing 
of  the  sacred  person  of  the  Messiah,  should  take  place  im- 
mediately before  he  was  cut  off — "  She  hath  done,  (said  he) 
what  she  could  ;  she  is  come  aforehand  to  anoint  my  body 
to  the  burying."  As  if  he  had  said — "Others  are  about 
to  insult  and  despise  me,  and  to  put  me  to  an  infamous  and 
painful  death  ;  but  she  hath  done  what  she  could  for  my 
gratification,  and  to  show  me  honour  and  respect  ;  and  let 
her  not  be  blamed  for  this — The  anointing  of  the  dead  is 
indeed  attended  with  considerable  expense.  But  would 
you  grudge  such  an  expense  to  my  dead  body  ?  My  ene- 
mies would  not  permit  Mary  to  do  what  has  occasioned 
this  cost,  after  my  decease  ;  and  God  hath  therefore  put  it 
into  her  heart  to  anoint  me  aforehand."  Nor  did  the  Sa- 
viour content  himself,  with  simply  justifying  this  noble 
and  affectionate  expression  of  Mary's  attachment  and  de- 
votedness.  He  went  farther  in  his  commendation  of  it 
than  he  ever  went — so  far  as  we  are  told — in  approving 
any  other  act  of  kindness  or  respect  that  was  shown  to  his 
person.  He  declared  that  wherever  his  Gospel  should  be 
preached  in  the  vvhule  world,  and  to  the  end  of  time^  this 
deed  of  Mary  should  be  told  as  an  honourable  memorial  of 
her.  Accordingly  we  find,  in  fact,  that  although  the  ac- 
tion is  apparently  not  of  the  greatest  importance,  in  the 
history  of  our  Lord,  and  very  many  of  his  own  acts,  as  St. 
John  informs  us,  are  not  recorded  at  all,  yet  this  deed  of 
Mary  is  circumstantially  narrated  by  three  of  the  evangel- 
ists. And  it  is  a  delightful  thought  that  after  the  lapse  of 
near  twenty  centuries,  and  at  the  distance  of  half  the  cir- 


cumference  of  the  globe  from  the  place  where  the  predic- 
tion was  uttered,  I  am  this  moment  contributing  my  mite 
to  its  verification. 

Do  we  not  learn  from  all  this,  that  when,  from  real 
and  fervent  love  to  Christ,  we  do  what  we  can  to  serve  and 
glorify  him,  he  marks  it  with  the  most  peculiar  approba- 
tion, and  will  confer  on  it  the  most  distinguished  reward  ? 

"She  hath  done  what  she  could" — It  seems  to  be  a 
legitimate  inference  from  these  words,  a  general  proposi- 
tion which  they  will  fairly  support,  that  Christian  women 
ought  to  do  all  that  they  can,  to  manifest  their  love  to  the 
Saviour  and  their  desire  to  do  him  honour.  For  who  will 
say  that  others  ought  not  to  do  as  Mary  did  }  Few,  it  is 
believed,  except  avowed  infidels,  will  deny  the  truth  of 
this  doctrine,  when  proposed  in  the  abstract  form  in  which 
it  is  here  stated.  Yet  when  we  come  to  examine  it  in  de- 
tail, and  to  apply  it  to  practice,  we  find  that  opinion  is  by 
no  means  uniform,  even  among  professing  Christians. 

We  propose,  therefore,  in  the  sequel  of  this  discourse, 
to  endeavour  to  ascertain  and  state,  what  Christian  wo- 
men may  do  ;  and  ivhat  they  may  not  do  ;  in  manifes- 
ting their  love  to  Christ,  and  their  desire  to  do  him 
honour. 

It  may  be  proper  just  to  remark,  in  a  preliminary  way, 
that  genuine  love  to  Christ,  and  a  rational  desire  to  do  him 
honour,  vvill  always  manifest  themselves  in  earnest  endea- 
vours to  render  the  Redeemer  precious  in  the  estimation 
of  others. — In  using  all  proper  means  to  propagate  the 
knowledge  of  his  glorious  person,  of  his  excellent  doctrines, 
of  his  great  salvation,  of  the  obligations  which  sinners  owe 
him,  and  of  tiie  absolute  necessity  of  their  embracing  for 
themselves  his  offered  mercy,  as  the  only  sure  ground  of 
their  hope  for  eternity.  It  is  by  thus  doing  that  we  com- 
ply with  our  Lord's  own  directions  on  this  subject. 
"Herein  (said  he)  is  my  Father  glorified  that  ye  bear 


8 


much  fruit,  so  shall  ye  be  my  disciples — If  ye  love  me, 
keep  my  commandments — Feed  my  sheep,  feed  my  lambs 
— In  as  much  as  ye  did  it  to  one  of  the  least  of  these  my 
brethren,  ye  did  it  unto  me."  Let  it  be  remembered  then, 
that  our  Saviour  is  identified  with  his  religion  ;  and  that 
to  love,  to  promote,  or  to  adorn  the  religion  of  Christ,  is 
to  express  love  to  himself  and  to  honour  him  before  the 
world.  Our  representations  and  language,  in  the  discussion 
before  us,  will  be  in  conformity  with  this  remark. 

In  prosecuting  our  purpose,  as  already  stated,  we  may 
find  it  advantageous  to  consider — 

I.  The  negative  part  of  our  subject,  namely,  what 
Christian  women  may  not  do,  in  manifesting  their  love  to 
their  Saviour,  and  their  desire  to  do  him  honour. 

It  is  plainly  intimated  in  the  text,  that  Mary's  efforts 
to  honour  her  Redeemer,  were  limited.     When  it  is  said, 
**  she  hath  done  what  she  could,"  the  implication  is  obvi- 
ous, that  she  would  have  done  more  if  more  had  been  in 
her  power — if  propriety  would  have  permitted,  or  if  means 
and  opportunity  had  not  been  wanting.     By  what  circum- 
stances and  considerations,  then,  were  her  efforts  limited  ? 
In  the  first  place,  I  answer.     By  the  bounds  prescribed 
to  her  by  her  sex  itself.     Happy  is  that  woman  who  al- 
ways finds  that  she  cannot  do,  what  it  is  improper  for  her 
to  do  as  a  woman  ;  whose  whole  mind  and  feelings  are 
so  set  against  whatever  misbecomes  her,  that  she  experi- 
ences a  fortunate  incapacity  to  attempt  it.     The  Saviour, 
to  whom  Christian  women  are  to  manifest  their  attachment, 
is  their  Creator  and  Lord.     He  framed    them  with   that 
shrinking  delicacy  of  temperament  and  feeling,  which  is 
one  of  their  best  distinctions,  which  renders  them  amiable, 
and  which,  while  it  unfits  them  for  command,  and  subjects 
them,  in  a  degree,  to  the  rougher  sex,  gives  them,  at  the 
same  time,    an  appropriate  and  very  powerful  influence. 
Jt  was,  therefore,  not  to  be  expected,  that  he  who  formed 


9 

Lhem  witli  this  natural  and  retirinsj  modesty,  and  under  a 
qualified  subjection  to  man,  would  ever  require,  or  even 
permit  them,  to  do  any  thing  in  violation  of  his  own  order  ; 
and  least  of  all  that  he  would  permit  this  in  his  own  im- 
mediate service.  Hence,  I  apprehend,  it  is,  that  we  find 
in  the  New  Testament  such  texts  as  the  following.  1  Tim. 
ii.  11 — 14.  "  Let  tlie  woman  learn  in  silence  with  all  sub- 
jection. But  I  suffer  not  a  woman  to  teach,  nor  to  usurp 
authority  over  the  man,  but  to  be  in  silence.  For  Adam 
was  first  formed,  then  Eve.  And  Adam  was  not  deceiv- 
ed, but  the  woman  being  deceived  was  in  the  transgression." 
— 1  Cor.  xiv.  34,  35.  *'Let  your  women  keep  silence  in 
the  churches  ;  for  it  is  not  permitted  unto  ihem  to  speak  ; 
but  they  are  commanded  to  be  under  obedience,  as  also 
saith  the  law.  And  if  they  will  learn  any  thing,  let  them 
ask  their  husbands  at  home  ;  for  it  is  a  shame  for  women 
to  speak  in  the  church." 

The  same  apostle,  who,  under  the  unerring  guidance 
of  divine  inspiration,  delivered  these  plain  and  positive 
injunctions,  has  also  said — 1  Cor.  xi.  5.  "  Every  woman 
that  prayeth,  or  prophesieth,  with  her  head  uncovered, 
dishonoureth  her  head  ;  for  that  is  even  all  one  as  if  she 
were  shaven."  Here,  unquestionably,  is  a  direction  liow 
women  ought  to  appear  and  act,  when  speaking  in  a  pub- 
lick  Christian  assembly  ;  for  the  connexion  of  the  passage 
shows  clearly  that  it  is  of  such  an  assembly  that  the  apos- 
tle is  here  treating.  This,  then,  seems  to  militate  with  the 
preceding  precepts.  But  we  know  that  inspired  truth 
never  can  contradict,  or  be  inconsistent  with  itself.  How 
then  is  this  apparent  inconsistency  to  be  cleared  up  ?  In 
one  way  only,  as  we  believe  ;  and  in  that  way,  easily  and 
perfectly.  During  the  period  of  miraculous  endowments 
under  the  Gospel  dispensation,  as  well  as  under  tliat  of 
Moses,  the  gift  of  supernatui-al  inspiration  was  sometimes 
conferred  on  women,  as  well  as  upon  men.     We  arc  toM 


10 

expressly,  that  Philip  the  Evangelist  "had  four  daughters;, 
virgins,    that   did    prophesy."     Now,    in   the  last  quoted 
passage,  the  apostle  is  speaking  of  wohk  n  un(h:r  superna- 
tural inspiration  ;  but  in  the  other  passages,  of  women  un- 
der no  such   inspiration.      It  ap]jeors,    therefore,  that  by  a 
miraculoas  gift,  the  gieat  head  and  lawgiver  of  the  church 
took  the   case  of  the  women    on  whom  he  bestowed  that 
gift  out  of  the  general  rule,  and  authoiizcd  them  to  utter, 
even  in  publick  assemblies,  what  his  own  spirit  dictated  at 
the  time.      But  on   all   other  and    ordinaiy  occasions- — to 
these  our  first  quotations  refer — thej-  are  absolutely  requir- 
ed not  to  speak,  but  to  keep  silence   in  the  churches.      It 
is  also  worthy  of  special  remark,  that  even  when  divinel}' 
authorized  to  speak,  they  were  still  commanded  to  be  co- 
vered ;  as  indicative  of  a  delicate  reserve,  and  as  recogniz- 
ing a  state  of  subjection.     The  explanation  here  given,  as 
it  seems  indispensable  to  the  reconciling  of  one  part  of  hoiy 
writ  with  another,    so  it  will   be  found  to  be  countenanced 
and  warranted  by  the  context  of  the  passages  we  have  re- 
cited.     But  as  we  assuredl}'  believe,  that   miraculous  in- 
spiration has  long  since  ceased  in  the  Christian  church,   no 
such  expected  cases  as  those  we  have  mentioned,   can  any 
longer  occur.      The  general  rule  therefore  laid  down  by  the 
Spirit  of  Christ,  speaking  b}'  the  mouth  of  St.  Paul,  is  now 
in  force,  without  an  exception.      Women  are,  in   no  case, 
to  be  publick  preachers  and  tcacliers,  in  assemblies  promis- 
cuously composed  of  the  two  sexes.      This  is  explicitly  and 
pointedly  prohibited.     Hero,  then,  is  one  thing  ihatCiu'ist- 
ian  women  may  not  do,    in   their  endeavours   to   pronjote 
and  extend  the  religion  of  Christ.    And  I  am  well  assured, 
that  in  making  the  statement  you  have  just  lieai'd,   all  tjiat 
I  have  said  accords  as  fully  wiih  the  views,  wisiicsand  feel- 
ings, of  that  Society  at  v.hose  request,  and  in  whose  behalf, 
I  now  speak,   as  it  docs  witli  tlic  spirit  and  injunctions  of 
Sacred  Scripture. 


11 


2.  The  endeavours  of  Christian  women  to  promote  and 
extend  tiie  religion  of  Christ,  must  be  limited  by  a  due 
regard  to  the  means  they  may  have  at  command,  and  the 
opportunities  which  may  offer,  for  the  purpose.  This  in- 
deed is  a  rule  of  duty^  which  taken  at  large,  is  as  applica- 
ble to  men,  as  to  women. — The  efforts  of  all  to  do  good, 
must  be  bounded  by  their  means  and  opportunities.  But 
there  is  a  special  application  of  the  rule  to  the  female  sex, 
which  ought  to  i)e  distinctly  noticed  and  carefully  regard- 
ed. Their  means  of  contributing  both  to  publick  and  pri- 
vate charities,  must  frequently  be  derived  from  the  other 
sex.  What  they  give  must  come  from  the  purses  of  their 
husbands,  fathers,  brothers,  or  other  near  kindred,  or  par- 
ticular friends  ;  and  they  certainly  in  all  such"  cases  ought 
to  be  consulted,  and  to  determine  on  the  amount  of  charity 
which,  in  any  given  instance,  it  is  proper  to  bestow — un- 
less indeed  a  general  discretion  has  been  previously  al- 
lowed. 

Sometimes,  we  knowj  the  case  is  otherwise.  In  a  num- 
ber of  instances,  women  have  property  of  their  own,  en- 
tirely free  from  any  foreign  control  ;  and  then  their  duty, 
as  to  charitable  donations,  is  clearly  under  no  otiier  restric- 
tion, than  that  which  is  common  to  them  witli  men. 

Tliis  seems  to  have  been  tiie  case  with  her  to  whom  our 
text  refers.  We  are  not,  indeed,  expressly  told  that  such 
was  tlie  fact.  But  the  circumstances  which  are  narrated 
appear  to  me  to  indicate,  that  what  she  did  was  unlocked 
for  by  the  whole  company,  except  by  him  who  knew  all 
things. — That  neither  Lazarus  nor  Martha  was  acquainted 
with  their  sister's  design,  till  it  was  executed,  if  this 
were  so,  the  expensive  purchase  which  Mary  had  made, 
must  have  been  fiom  her  separate  and  independent  part  of 
the  family  estate;  or  from  her  own  earnings.  Be  tliis  as  it 
might,  it  is  an  obvious  duty  for  every  Christian  woman  to 
submit  to  her  relatives,  implicitly,  the  disposition  of  their 


12 

own  property  ;  after  laying  before  tliem,  as  she  lawfully 
may,  the  considerations  and  motives  which  influence  her 
own  mind,  in  favour  of  a  contemplated  charity. 

I  cannot,  however,  forbear  to  mention  here,  that  it  is  a 
noble  expression  of  Christian  benevolence,  which  is  now 
witnessed  in  various  parts  of  our  country,  where  pious  and 
publick  spirited  females  cheerfully  sacrifice  superfluous  ex- 
pense in  dress  or  equipage  ;  and  others  as  cheerfully  la- 
bour with  their  own  hands,  in  forming  garments,  or  in 
making  for  sale  to  the  rich,  certain  articles  of  taste  or  or- 
nament ;  and  both  classes  put  the  proceeds  of  the  whole 
into  the  treasury  of  the  Lord,  to  extend  in  various  ways, 
the  inestimable  blessings  of  his  precious  Gospel.  These 
sacrifices  and  labours,  when  kept  within  any  moderate 
bounds,  are  by  no  means  to  be  considered  as  violations  of 
female  duty  ; — and  those  Avho  endeavour  harshly  to  res- 
train tiiem,  or  to  discourage  them  by  ridicule  and  banter, 
act  a  part,  to  which  we  give  only  its  proper  character^ 
when  we  say  that  it  is,  at  once,  unmanly,  base  and  wicked. 

On  the  circumstance,  that  the  opportunities  which  women 
have  to  do  good,  are  more  circumscribed  than  those  of 
men,  we  only  remark  in  general,  that  as  we  can  easily  see, 
that  the  propriety  of  what  was  done  by  her  to  whom  the 
text  relates,  depended  much,  not  only  on  the  known  cha- 
racter of  the  Saviour,  but  on  what  she  did  being  done  at 
the  house  of  a  friend,  and  in  the  presence  of  her  own  fami- 
ly and  of  many  other  witnesses  ;  so  Christian  women  now, 
ought  to  be  sensible,  that  they  can  seldom  be  required  to 
expose  their  persons  to  insult,  or  their  characters  to  un- 
favourable imputations,  by  any  enterprises  or  errands  of 
benevolence,  or  by  any  exertions  to  propagate  the  Gospel. 
I  will  not  indeed  say,  that  there  may  not  be  some  extraor- 
dinary occasions,  on  which  it  may  be  their  duty,  to  put 
both  safety  and  reputation  at  considerable  risk.  But  all 
such  cases  must  be   clearly  and  strongly  marked.     Duty, 


13 

in  general,  will  consist,  in  submitting  to  the  allotments  of 
God's  providence,  in  all  tiie  circumstances  of  our  charac- 
ter and  state  ;  and  not  in  disregarding  his  order,  by  an  in- 
discreet attempt  to  render  services  beyond  the  limits  wiiich 
he  has  prescribed. 

Let  us  now  consider,  more  directly, 

II.  What  Christian  women  may  properly  do,  as  a  mani- 
festation of  their  love  to  their  Saviour,  or  for  the  promotion 
or  extension  of  his  religion. 

Here  we  might  say  at  once,  and  in  general,  that  women 
may  and  ought  to  do,  in  the  service  of  their  Saviour,  what- 
ever is  not  prohibited  in  the  exceptions  and  restrictions  that 
have  been  specified — That, with  these  exceptions  and  re- 
strictions their  moral  and  religious  duties,  are,  in  all  res- 
pects, the  same  as  those  of  men:  and  this  is  unquestionably 
the  general  truth,  in  regard  to  this  subject,  which  ought  to  be 
remembered  and  acted  on.  But  questions  sometimes  arise, 
as  to  what  ought,  and  what  ought  not,  to  be  considered  as 
exceptions  and  restrictions :  and  it  may  also  be  of  use  a 
little  to  explain  and  inculcate,  as  well  as  to  enumerate,  fe- 
male duties.     We  therefore  proceed  to  state, 

First,  that.  Christian  women  should  be  very  sensible 
that  the  religion  of  their  Saviour  is  greatly  adorned,  and 
sometimes  directly  promoted,  by  an  exemplary  discharge 
of  all  the  customary  duties  of  life  ;  and  by  sustaining  all 
its  relations  in  the  most  praise-worthy  manner.  It  is  cred- 
itable in  a  very  high  degree  to  evangelical  piety,  when  the 
world  itself  is  constrained  to  confess,  that  its  professors 
are  more  exact  and  active  in  fulfilling  all  social  and  relative 
obligations,  and  are  more  amiable  and  exemplary  in  their 
whole  deportment,  than  those  who  arc  destitute  of  religion. 
Perhaps  it  belongs  to  women  to  prove  the  truth  of  this  ob- 
servation, more  frequently  and  strikingly  than  can  be  done 
by  men.  The  apostle  Peter  says — "If  any  obey  not  the 
word,  they  may,  without  the  word,  be  won  by  the  convcr- 


14 

sation  of  the  wives,  when  they  behold  your  chaste  conver- 
sation, coupled  with  fear."  It  should,  therefore,  never 
be  forgotten,  that  Christian  women  ought  practically  to 
demonstrate,  that  the  influence  of  their  religion  has  render- 
ed them  better  wives,  better  mothers,  better  daughters, 
better  sisters,  better  neighbours,  and  better  friends,  than 
they  would  otherwise  be;  and  more  active,  punctual,  con- 
scientious, and  persevering,  in  the  discliarge  of  all  the  or- 
dinary duties  of  life — That  although  they  cannot  sacrifice 
their  allegiance  to  their  Saviour  to  any  worldly  considera- 
tion whatsoever,  yet  only  allow  them  to  maintain  that  alle- 
giance unimpaired^  and  you  shall  find  them  ready  to  make 
any  other  sacrifice  to  which  the}^  may  be  called. 

2.  It  is  one  of  the  peculiar  and  most  important  duties 
of  Christian  women,  to  instruct  and  pray  with  children, 
and  to  endeavour  to  form  their  tender  minds  to  piety,  in- 
telligence, and  virtue.  Here  is  a  wide  and  fertile  field  for 
their  appropriate  labours,  in  the  service  and  for  the  honour 
of  their  Redeemer.  The  earliest  years  of  children  are  usu- 
ally and  necessarily  past,  almost  wliolly  under  female  care; 
and  it  is  much  earlier  than  is  commonly  supposed,  that 
their  minds  and  moral  feelings  take  a  cast  which  is  often  as 
lasting  as  life.  Of  what  inconceivable  importance  is  it 
then,  that  this  iirst  moulding  of  the  mind  and  heart  should 
be  favourably  made  ;  and  that  mothers  should  know  and 
remember  that  if  so  made,  it  must  comnionly  be  made  by 
them.  They  have  the  capacity  of  mingling,  as  it  were, 
their  own  souls  with  the  souls  of  their  children — of  breath- 
ing into  them,  with  a  maternal  tenderness  and  sympathy, 
for  which  there  can  be  no  substitute,  those  sentiments  of 
filial  reverence  for  their  Creator  and  Redeemer,  and  of  ve- 
neration for  all  that  is  holy  and  lovely  in  the  religion  of  the 
Gospel,  which,  under  the  Divine  blessing,  may  become, 
and  do  often  in  fact  become,  the  germs  of  early  and  vital 
sodliness. 


15 

By  pious  mothers  chiefi)-,  must  children  Ije  taught  to 
use,  and  to  use  properly,  those  litile  forms  of  devotion,  in 
which  they  may  lisp  tlieir  petitions  and  thanksgivings  to 
God  ;  and  those  hymns  and  spiritual  songs,  by  which  "out 
of  the  mouths  of  babes  and  sucklings,"  the  Saviour's  praise 
is  "perfected,"  and  to  become  familiar  with  those  Scrip- 
ture narratives,  with  which  nearly  the  \\  hole  of  sacred 
story  is  connected,  and  by  which  the  fundamental  doc- 
trines of  revealed  truth  may  be  taught  and  inculcated.  By 
the  prayers  of  i)ious  mothers,  must  their  dear  offspring  be 
commended  to  the  providential  care  and  effectual  grace  of 
God,  with  that  frequency  and  fervour,  to  which  the  most 
favourable  answer  may  reasonably  be  expected,  and  to 
which  such  an  answer  has  often,  in  fact,  been  most  remaik- 
ably  returned. 

But  I  cannot  pretend  to  detail  all  that  pious  and  intelli- 
gent mothers  may  do — and  what  pious  sisters,  who  will  act 
a  mother's  part,  may  sometimes  do — to  train  the  infant  mind 
to  heavenly  aspirings,  and  to  the  love  of  virtuous  action. 
Point  me  to  an  instance  of  very  early  and  eminent  piety 
wliich  might  not  be  clearly  traced  to  tliis  source,  and  you 
will  show  me  such  an  instance  as  my  reading  and  observ- 
ation hitherto  have  never  furnished. 

Nor  does  maternal  intluence,  in  favour  of  jiiety  and  vir-- 
tue,  terminate  with  tiic  infant,  or  carl}-  3  ears  of  cJiildrcn. 
A  mother's  influence  is  of  the  utmost  consequence — very 
often  it  is  greater  than  any  oti;er  influence — through  the 
whole  of  youih,  and  even  to  a  more  advanced  age.  'i'jie 
j-oung  man,  or  young  woman,  on  whom  the  cour.sels, 
prnvers,  and  tears  of  a  pious  mother  have  lost  tlieir  com- 
manding eflect,  has  indeed  reached  the  threshold  of  hojjc- 
less  perdition. 

I  have  spoken  of  early  religion,  but  in  reading  the  liis- 
tory  of  the  church,  both  by  inspired  and  uninsjjired  pen- 
men, it  is  wortny  ol  remark,  how  often   the  matured  and 


16 

emineiit  religion  of  the  most  distinguished  men,  and  all 
their  extensive  usefuhiess  has  been  plainly,  and  sometimes 
confessedly  the  fruit  and  product  of  a  mother's  goodness 
and  care,  early  begun  and  long  continued.  Nor  is  this 
wonderful,  Roman  virtue  and  ambition,  was  often  trace- 
able to  the  same  powerfully  operative  cause  ;  and  its  effects 
in  the  production  of  modern  sages  and  heroes,  has  some- 
times been  equally  conspicuous.  To  the  nursery,  Christ- 
ian friends — to  the  nursery,  both  the  Church  and  the  State 
must  look,  for  tlieir  best  support — for  those  who  are  des- 
tined to  become  their  firmest  pillars,  and  their  brightest 
ornaments. 

Allow  the  speaker  to  say,  before  leaving  this  part  of  his 
subject,  that  the  leading  ideas  which  have  just  been  thrown 
out,  were  those  which  induced  him  to  take  the  early  and 
7.ealous  part,  which  he  has  taken,  in  recommending  the  in- 
stitution of  such  Societies,  as  that  at  whose  instance  he  now 
addresses  you. 

The  influence  of  the  sex  is,  and  ought  to  be,  great,  in 
ways  almost  innumerable.  But  their  agency  in  first  form- 
ing the  minds  and  habits  of  children  and  youth  is,  and 
must  be,  nearly  exclusive.  Till  the  women  of  India, 
therefore,  are  raised  from  that  state  of  ignorance  and  de- 
gradation in  which  they  have  been  sunk  for  ages  past,  the 
diffusion  of  Christianity  in  that  country  cannot  be  general 
and  lasting.  To  produce  this  effect,  we  must  look  for — at 
least  till  the  time  shall  arrive  when  ''  a  nation  shall  be  born 
in  a  day" — a  generation  to  arise,  which  well  instructed 
Christian  mothers  shall  have  helped  to  form,  and  on  which 
well  informed  Christian  women  shall  exert  all  their  natural 
and  incalculable  influence. 

3.  Christian  women  may  show  their  love  to  the  Saviour, 
and  promote  his  cause,  in  a  variety  of  instances,  of  a  pri- 
vate nature,  at  which  we  can  do  little  more  than  glance. 
They  may  devise,  and  suggest,  and  recommend  schemes  of 


17 

benevolence  and  piety,  the  execution  of  which  must  chiefly 
be  left  to  men. — Having  as  deep  an  interest  as  the  other 
sex,  in  the  proper  choice,  settlement,  and  support  of  a  min- 
ister of  the  Gospel,  and  in  all  the  concerns  of  a   Christian 
church  and  congregation,    it   is   reasonable,    that  on  these 
subjects  their  opinions  and  wishes  should  be  regarded,  and 
that,  with  modesty  and  discretion,  they  sliould    be  made 
known  to  those,  on  whom  the  active  ordering  of  such  con- 
cerns must  ultimately  depend. — There  seems  to  be  no  rea- 
sonable doubt,  that  it  was  the  office  of  the  deaconnesses — 
for  such  a  description   of  females  there   certainly  was — in 
the  primitive  church,  to  distribute  Christian  charities,  in  a 
discreet  and  beneficial  manner  ;  to  visit,  instruct,  and  con- 
sole the  poor,  the  sick,  and  the  afflicted  ;  to  converse  in 
private  with  all  who  might  seek  their  counsel  on  the  con- 
cerns of  their  souls,   and  especially  with  persons  of  their 
own  sex,  in  cases  in  which  a  community  of  sex  might  in- 
vite to  an  increased  freedom  of  communication.     There  is 
no  evidence  that  these  deaconnesses  were  ever  formally  or 
officially  apj)ointed.      Their  services  seem  to   have  been 
perfectly  voluntary  at  first,  and  afterwards,  when  found  to 
be  useful,  to  have  received  the  encouragement  and   appro- 
bation of  the  apostles,   and  other  ministers  of  the  cliurch. 
In  all  these  ways,   then,   the  door  of  duty  is  as  fully  open 
to  the  Christian  women  of  this  age,  as  to  those  in  tlie  days 
of  the  apostles.     And  as  there  are  some  witli  us  who  are 
willing  to  enter  upon  and  to  perform,  to  a  considei'abie  ex- 
tentjthe  services  that  have  been  specified,  so  would  to  God 
that  their  number  were  increased  a  hundred-fold. 

Here  too  we  must  mention  those  kind  and  gratifying  at- 
tentions, and  some  most  substantial  services  which  Christ- 
ian women  may  privately  render  to  jVIissionarics  and  to  the 
Ministers  of  Christ  in  general.  Holy  women  "  ministered 
of  their  substance"  to  their  Saviour,  in  the  days  of  his 
flesh.     Our  text  itself,  is  but  the  record  of  one  such  illus- 


18 

trious  instance.  And  the  apostle  Paul  had  been  deeply 
indebted  for  personal  kindnesses  and  services  to  another 
Mary.  "Greet  Mary  (said  he)  who  bestowed  much  la- 
bour on  us.'^  The  Missionaries  of  the  present  day,  owe  a 
large  part  of  their  comforts,  to  their  Christian  sisters. 
And  the  settled  pastors  in  nearly  all  our  churches,  would, 
I  am  confident,  be  ready  to  testify,  that  the  kind  services 
and  attentions  which  they  and  their  families  receive  from 
the  pious  women  of  their  several  charges,  are  among  the 
greatest  and  most  grateful  alleviations,  of  the  anxious  cares, 
and  laborious  exertions,  of  their  arduous  office — endearing 
their  people  to  them  exceedingly,  and  rendering  them  dou- 
bly willing  to  spend  and  be  spent  in  their  service.  These 
things  are  good  and  acceptable  to  God  ;  and  in  these,  let 
women,  who  love  their  Saviour,  be  careful  to  abound. 

4.  Christian  women  who  are  engaged  in  the  teaching  of 
children  and  youth,  may  express  their  love  to  their  Sa- 
viour, and  a  commendable  zeal  in  his  service,  by  the  in- 
struction of  those  committed  to  their  care,  in  the  element- 
ary principles  of  revealed  truth  ;  by  endeavouring  to  im- 
press that  truth  on  the  hearts  and  consciences  of  their 
tender  charge  ;  and  by  constantly  imploring  for  them  in 
earnest  prayer,  the  special  blessing  of  God  their  Heavenly 
Father.  That  these  are  duties  proper  for  female  teachers, 
is  as  clear  as  that  it  is  right  for  them  to  be  teachers  at  all. 
For  no  instruction  is  so  important  as  that  which  relates  to 
our  eternal  well  being,  and  which  therefore  ought  never  to 
be  omitted,  by  those  to  whom  the  education  of  youth  is 
committed.  The  schools  of  female  teachers,  moreover, 
are  wholly  composed  either  of  youth  of  their  own  sex,  or 
of  those  of  the  other,  who  are  but  little  advanced  beyond 
the  age  of  infancy.  Blessed  be  God,  the  duty  here  incul- 
cated, has,  we  have  reason  to  believe,  been  more  frequently 
and  carefully  performed  of  late,  than  at  some  former  peri- 
ods.    Schools  under  female  instruction,  have  been  opened 


19 

and  closed  with  prayer,  and  in  them  reh'gious  knowledge 
has  been  acquired,  together  with  the  knowledge  of  letters^ 
and  of  other  useful  and  ornamental  attainments. 

But  what  shall  we  say  of  Sabbath  Schools.  We  say, 
without  reserve,  that  they  a[)pear  to  be  among  the  happiest 
devices  of  Christian  ingenuity,  in  an  age  of  Ciiristian  en- 
terprise, for  carrying  instruction  and  piety  into  the  fami- 
lies of  the  poor,  the  ignorant  and  the  vicious;  and  of  thus 
extending  the  blessings  of  the  Gospel  to  a  very  large  por- 
tion of  every  community,  which  had  before,  even  in  Christ- 
ian lands,  been  almost  entirely  neglected.  In  the  instruct- 
ion of  these  schools,  pious  and  benevolent  females,  without 
any  other  earthly  reward,  than  that  which  they  find  in  do- 
ing good,  have  taken  a  most  active  and  efficient  part.  In 
some  regular  Ciiristian  congregations,  as  well  as  in  other 
places,  they  are  the  only  instructers  of  these  schools  ;  and 
in  every  place,  so  far  as  my  knowledge  extends,  their  ex- 
ertions have  kept  full  pace  with  those  of  their  fellow  la- 
bourers of  the  other  sex,  and  in  certain  places,  have  far 
outgone  them.  God  has  remarkably  smiled  on  those  con- 
cerned in  this  blessed  work.  Numbers  of  them  have  been 
visited  with  his  special  grace,  and  been  added  to  his  church 
on  earth — with  numbers  of  those  in  whose  conversion  their 
labours  have  been  instrumental  ;  and  doubtless  it  will  be 
with  peculiar  delight,  that  the  teachers  and  the  taught  will 
meet  and  rejoice  together,  in  the  church  triumphant  above. 
Let  every  Christian  woman  be,  as  far  as  she  can,  the  pa- 
troness and  promoter  of  Sabbath  Schools. 

5.  Christian  women  may  manifest  their  love  to  their  Sa- 
viour, to  his  cause,  and  to  communion  with  himself,  by 
associations  for  prayer  among  themselves,  and  by  keeping 
up  the  worship  of  God  in  their  households,  in  the  absence 
of  a  male  head  of  the  family.  We  have  no  time  for  ex- 
tended argument  on  the  propriety  of  what  is  here  stated  as 
female  duty.     We  only  remark,  that  it  interferes,  in  no 


20 

respect,  with  what  has  been  shown  to  be  divinely  prohi- 
bited. The  supposition  is,  that  in  female  prayer  meetings, 
women  only  meet  with  women.  In  the  devotional  exer- 
cises carried  on  in  such  circumstances,  there  is  surely  no 
ground  for  the  charge  of  arrogant  assumption,  or  of  any 
trespass  on  female  decorum.  Why  then  should  any  object 
to  this  sacred  communion  of  sister-hood,  in  which  devout 
women  mingle  their  prayers  and  their  praises — their  prayers 
for  each  other,  for  their  husbands,  for  their  children,  and 
for  the  church  of  God.  Verily  we  believe  that  these  fe- 
male offerings  come  up  as  sweet  incense  before  the  throne 
of  a  prayer-hearing  God  ;  and  that  often  in  the  most  sig- 
nal manner,  he  returns  to  the  offerers  answers  of  peace. 

In  the  absence  of  a  husband,  the  wife  becomes  the  head 
of  the  family,  and  ought  to  maintain  family  prayer.  Let 
her  do  it  without  a  form,  if  she  can  do  it  thus,  with  free- 
dom ;  but  let  her  not  scruple  to  use  a  form,  rather  than  to 
omit  the  duty. — Spirit  of  my  sainted  mother!  If  I  shall  be 
so  happy  as  to  join  thee  in  thy  celestial  abode,  shall  I  not 
thank  thee  there,  for  the  family  prayers  which,  in  my 
early  years,  and  in  the  absence  of  a  praying  father,  I  heard 
from  thy  hallowed  lips!  Well  may  I  recommend  what  I 
know  to  be  practicable — what  I  know  to  be  profitable. — 
The  obligation  to  pray  with  their  households  is  statedly 
incumbent  on  widows,  unless  a  pious  son  or  other  inmate 
will  assume  the  service. 

Christian  women,  too,  especially  if  they  have  prayerless 
husbands,  ought  frequently  to  pray  with  their  children,  by 
themselves  apart.  That  husband  must  be  without  feeling, 
as  well  as  without  religion,  who  would  not  rather  rejoice 
at  this,  than  regard  it  with  displeasure. 

6.  Christian  women  may  testify  their  love  to  their  Sa- 
viour, and  their  desire  to  extend  the  benefits  of  his  re- 
demption, by  taking  part,  in  a  variety  of  ways,  in  mission- 
ary concerns.      <'Have  we  not  power  (says  St.  Paul)  to 


21 

lead  about  a  sister,  a  wife,  as  well  as  other  apostles,  and  as 
the  brethren  of  the  Lord  and  Cephas."  Here,  we  believe, 
is  a  complete  scriptural  warrant,  for  missionaries  to  be  at- 
tended by  their  wives.  Some  of  the  apostles — the  original 
and  inspired  missionaries — were  plainly  so  attended.  Nor, 
when  missionaries  go  forth  by  families,  or  companies,  is 
there  any  transgression  of  female  delicacy  or  decorum,  if 
unmarried  women  accompany  them.  Often  they  are  still 
under  the  guardianship  of  fathers,  or  brothers,  and  always 
under  the  protection  of  men  of  the  fairest  and  purest  ciia- 
racter.  The  services  of  unmarried  women  may  be,  as  tiiey 
have  often  been,  of  the  very  highest  importance,  in  mis- 
sionary operations. 

At  home.  Christian  women  may,  with  entire  propriety, 
not  only  contribute  to  missionary  funds,  when  founded  by 
others,  but  form  associations  of  their  own,  for  raising 
funds,  to  be  appropriated  by  themselves,  to  such  objects  as 
they  may  find  themselves  most  disposed  to  favour.  To 
deny  them  this  privilege,  would  be  to  manifest  such  injus- 
tice, as  requires  no  words  to  expose. 

Even  Female  Missionary  Societies  have  been  formed  in 
our  country,  and  conducted  with  unimpeachable  propriety 
and  undeniable  utility.  While  so  conducted,  wlio  will 
censure  them  ?  Who  will  not  rather  countenance  them, 
and  bid  them  God  speed .''  By  the  intervention  and  aid  of 
ministers  of  the  Gospel,  and  of  pious  and  discreet  laymen, 
their  missionaries  may  be  selected,  and  missionary  services 
be  assigned  and  inspected,  without  any  trespass  on  the  rights 
of  men,  or  the  delicacy  of  women. 

7.  Bible  Societies,  Tract  Societies,  P^ducation  Societies, 
Jews  Societies,  Charity  Schools,  Orphan  Asylums,  Wid- 
ows' Asylums,  and  all  institutions  of  a  similar  character 
to  these,  present  to  Christian  women  objects  and  opportu- 
nities for  manifesting  tiieir  love  to  their  Saviour  and  his 
cause,  which  they  may  seize  and  improve,  with  the  great- 


22 

est  freedom  and  advantage.  And  truly  they  have,  in  our 
day,  seized  and  improved  them  with  an  activity,  and  to  an 
extent,  which  are  worthy  of  the  highest  praise.  In  seve- 
ral instances  within  the  knowledge  of  the  speaker,  the 
energy,  perseverance,  and  success,  of  Christian  women,  in 
cultivating  these  fields  of  pious  usefulness,  have  reproved 
the  more  sluggish  efforts  of  men.  It  was  reserved  for  the 
age  in  which  we  live,  and  it  is  among  the  indications,  as 
■we  hope,  of  a  better  age  approaching,  that  female  agency 
should  be  called  on,  to  take  part  in  almost  every  plan  and 
effort,  for  extending  the  Gospel,  or  for  abating  the  suffer- 
ings, or  meliorating  the  condition  of  mankind.  The  effect 
has  been  wonderful ;  and  it  seems  scarcely  less  wonderful, 
that  such  efficient  aid  was  never  brought  into  action  be^ 
fore. 

But  among  all  the  benevolent  associations  that  have  been 
mentioned,  and  to  which  it  seems  as  if  every  one  who  loves 
either  God  or  man,  must  cordially  wish  success,  there  is 
not  one,  that  is,  in  my  view,  more  worthy  of  the  special 
attention  of  Chi'istian  women — not  one  that  more  appro- 
priately belongs  to  them — than  such  societies  as  that  whose 
anniversary  we  this  day  celebrate.  Consider  its  object.  It 
is  to  deliver  one  half  of  the  human  species,  in  tne  most 
populous  region  cf  the  earth,  from  a  state  of  the  deepest 
and  most  complete  abjection. — P'rom  a  state  which  exhibits 
them  as  mere  animals  ;  not  worthy  to  be  considered  as  rea- 
sonable and  immortal  beings ;  not  the  fit  subjects  of  intel- 
kciual  improvement,  and  of  religious  happiness  and  hope; 
not  the  companions  of  men,  on  the  footing  of  intelligence, 
or  of  any  approximation  to  equality  ;  but  only  as  his 
slaves,  and  the  instruments. — But  1  cannot  proceed  in  the 
description  of  their  state.  It  is  not  of  a  nature  to  be  des- 
cribed before  this  audience  ;  nor  even  to  be  thought  on  by 
one's  sell,  but  at  the  expense  of  every  species  of  painful 
and  sickening  emotions.     X  solemnly  ask  then,   if  there 


23 

can  be  a  louder  call  for  humane,  for  benevolent,  for  Christ- 
ian exertion,  from  every  ont^  in  whose  bosom  the  feelings 
of  humanity,  benevolence,  and  Christian  compassion,  are 
not  "  twice  dead,  plucked  ui>  by  the  roots" — than  liiat 
which  is  here  made,  to  lenrl  a  helping  hand,  to  iiti  up  tht;se 
millions  on  millions  of  the  hnnian  family,  from  tl.is  state  of 
absolute  bestial  ignorance,  degrndation  and  servility,  to  a 
state  of  rationality,  intelligence,  happiness,  dignity,  and 
the  hope  of  heaven?  And  if  this  may  be  asked  of  every 
man,  who  has  the  soul  of  a  man,  what  shall  be  said  to  wo- 
men, to  Christian  women,  in  behalf  of  their  own  sex, 
whose  feelings  they  must  best  know,  and  in  whose 
Vv'retchedness  and  sorrows  they  can  best  sympathize? 
Do  they  occupy  themselves  in  other  works  of  kindness 
and  charity  ?  And  can  they  neglect  this?  Ought  not  this 
to  be  their  peculiar,  their  favourite  object  ?  Ought  not  the 
women  of  the  whole  civilized  world,  to  make  common 
cause,  in  rescuing  more  than  one  half  of  their  common  na- 
ture, from  the  condition  of  brutes?  Ought  not  all  Christ- 
ian women  to  do  this  ?  Yes,  they  ought — and  bear  with 
me,  if  you  cannot  think  and  feel  as  I  do,  when  I  say  that 
I  have  wondered,  and  do  wonder,  that  the  known  condi- 
tion of  women  in  India,  and  in  other  regions  where  Hea- 
thenism and  Mahomedanism  prevail,  has  not  operated  with 
an  electrick  force,  on  the  whole  enlightened  part — and  es- 
pecially on  the  Christian  part — of  the  sex,  to  rouse  them 
to  the  most  vigorous  action,  and  to  unite  them  in  a  con- 
centration of  effort,  to  bring  out  female  nature  from  this 
horrible  abyss  of  reproach  and  infamy  ;  and  to  raise  it  to 
the  standing  for  which  it  was  formed  and  intended  by  the 
Great  Author  of  our  being.  Heathens  and  Mahomedans 
all  together,  male  as  well  as  female,  are  we  know  in  u 
state  of  awful  ignorance  and  wretchedness  ;  but  there  is  a 
specialty  in  the  case  of  women  among  them,  and  it  is  of 
this  I  am  now  speaking. — Women  are  debased  far  below 


24 


tlieir  lords   and    masters,    who    are    themselves  debased. 
They  are  of  wretched   and  degraded   tyrants,   the  more 
wretched   and    degraded   slaves  and  drudges,  or  the  mere 
instruments  oi"  their  base  sensuality.     In  the  deep  of  Hea- 
then  and    Maliomedan   abominations,    there   is   "a   lower 
deep,"  and  there  it  is,  that  the  whole  female  sex  with  them 
is  found.      Thanks  to  God,  that   those  who   are   trying  to 
bring  them  relief,   have  some  encouraging  indications  of 
success.     A  considerable   number  ot  the  poor  natives  of 
India,  have   surrendered  their  female  children   for  educa- 
tion,  to  the   thrice  blessed  missionaries  ;  to  the  heavenly 
minded  men  and  women  who  began  and  are  still  engaged, 
in  this  Godlike  work  of  restoring   them   to  the  rights  of 
human  nature,   and   the   prospect  of  eternal    felicity.     To 
have  made  this  good    beginning,    is  to  have   done  much. 
Let  but  the  happy  effects  of  female  education  be  once  visi- 
ble, although  it  be  on  a  small  scale — let  but  a  few  well  edu- 
cated   females,   from   among  the  lower  casts  in   India,   go 
forth  into  life,  and  make  their  superiority  to  degraded  men, 
as  well  as  to  degraded  women,    to   be  seen   and   felt ;  the 
certain  consequence  will  be,  that  the  desire  of  female  edu- 
cation will  become  geneial  and  ardent  ;  and  the  great  ob- 
ject in  view,   will  be  in  a  train  to  be  reached,    as  speedily 
as  the  nature  of  the  case  will   permii.      To   furnish  these 
specimens  of  well  educated  women — and  we  hope  they  will 
be  Christian  women  too — in  the  various  parts  of  India,  will 
indeed    require    funds   and    exertions,    a    thousand   times 
greater  than   any  of  which  at  present  we  have  the   know- 
ledge.    But  still,  the  work  has  been  commenced,  and  is  in 
progress  ;  and  we  believe  it  to  be  God's  work,   and   that, 
under    his  smiles  and     benediction,    it    will  go    on    and 
prosper. 

Thus,  my  respected  female  friends,  I  have  endeavoured 
to  perform,  in  the  best  n>anner  I  could,  the  service  to 
which   you    have  called  me  on  this  occasion.     It  is  a  time 


25 

at  which,  as  has  been  said,  women  are  taking  part  in  al- 
most all  that  is  done  in  the  holy  cause  of  religion  and  hu- 
manity. For  this,  you  sufler  unsparing  censure,  from 
some  of  my  sex  and  from  some  of  your  own.  By  this  cen- 
sure, some  among  you  have  been  intimidated,  and  others, 
I  question  not,  have  been  made  honestly  to  doubt,  in  what 
manner  they  ought  to  act.  Instead,  therefore,  of  confin- 
ing myself,  in  this  service,  to  a  single  point,  or  of  indul- 
ging, in  general  declamation,  I  have  rather  chosen  to  show, 
as  far  as  my  limits  and  my  ability  would  permit,  what 
Christian  women  may  do,  and  what  they  may  not  do,  in 
expressing  their  love  to  the  Saviour,  and  manifesting  their 
desire  to  promote  his  religion.  The  sneer  of  the  infidel 
we  look  for,  and  are  prepared  to  disregard  ;  but  what  in 
Christian  duty,  it  is,  for  us,  a  most  serious  inquiry.  In 
pursuing  this  inquiry,  I  have  taken  the  word  of  God  for 
my  guide — in  its  letter,  where  I  found  its  letter  explicit, 
and  in  its  spirit,  as  far  as  I  could  ascertain  that  spirit,  in 
all  that  I  have  said. 

As  to  the  special  purpose  for  which  your  association  has 
been  formed,  I  shall  add  but  little  to  what  you  have  alrea- 
dy heard.  It  is  your  high  praise,  that  while  too  many 
have  been,  and  still  are,  negligent  of  their  duty,  and  as  it 
seems  to  me,  sealed  up  in  apathy  and  stupoi',  in  regard  to 
the  great  object  of  your  society,  you,  like  Mary,  have 
done  what  you  could.  Go  on.  Christian  sisters,  "lie 
not  weary  in  well  doing,  for  in  due  time  you  shall  reap, 
if  you  faint  not."  Often  think  of  the  number  of  immor- 
tal souls,  that  are  every  day  and  every  hour  passing  into 
eternity,  from  the  multitudinous  population  of  India — vi- 
llous, polluted  throughout,  and  totally  ignorant  of  that  Sa- 
viour, whose  blood  alone  "  cleanseth  from  all  sin."  Often 
think  on  your  special  obligations  to  *'Gud  who  hath  called 
you  unto  his  kingdom  and  glory."  Often  think  on  the 
distinguishing  and   merciful    allotment   of  his  providence. 


26 

in  giving  you  birth  and  education,  in  a  Christian,  in- 
stead of  a  heathen,  or  Maliomedan  land.  And  while 
you  perceive,  as  you  cannot  fail  to  peiceive,  that  women 
have  a  peculiar  interest  in  the  propagation  of  revealed 
truth,  since  the  influence  of  that  alone  has  ever  raised 
them  to  their  proper  rank  in  society,  and  sustained 
them  in  it,  feci  that  you  are  under  peculiar  obligations  to 
extend  the  knowledge  of  that  truth,  by  all  the  means  in 
your  power — to  extend  it  for  the  benefit  of  all,  but  especi- 
ally for  the  benefit,  both  temporal  and  eternal,  of  your 
own  sex.  Never  was  there  greater  encouragement  to  pro- 
ceed vs'ith  animation  and  energy  in  a  good  work,  than  that 
which  you  have  already  received.  The  cheering  intelli- 
gence has  reached  you  witliin  the  year  past,  that  on  the 
schools  of  Ceylon,  the  very  schools  to  which  you  afford 
your  aid,  God  has  most  remarkably  poured  out  his  Holy 
Spirit.  Under  his  sacred  influence,  those  schools  have  be- 
come Bochims  and  Bethels — places  of  weeping  and  houses 
of  prayer  ;  houses  in  v.-hich  daughters,  as  well  as  sons, 
have,  we  trust,  been  born  to  God  and  glory.  In  tliis  most 
joyous  event,  remember  that  your  prayers,  and  your  alms 
have  had  a  happy  instrumentality.  Go  on,  then,  to  pray 
earnestly,  and  to  give  cheerfully,  for  God  is  with  you  : 
and  before  the  throne  of  God  and  of  the  Lamb,  many  of 
the  female  children  of  India,  shall  yet  meet  you,  and  bless 
}-ou,  and  rejoice  with  you  through  eternal  ages. 

Men  and  brethren,  who  hear  me  on  this  occasion.  Be 
reminded  that  there  is  a  divine  injunction  laid  on  us,  in 
relation  to  the  subject  which  has  now  been  discussed.  The 
apostle  Paul,  speaking  as  he  was  moved  by  the  Ploly 
Ghost,  has  said- — "Help  those  women  that  laboured  with 
me  in  the  Gospel."  Yes,  it  is  the  sacred  duty  of  us  all, 
to  help  these  female  gospel  labourers  ;  to  help  them  with 
our  countenance  and  encouragement,  with  our  prayers  and 
our  purses,   with  every  aid  and  every   facility  which  wo 


27 

can  afford  them,  in  their  benevolent  exertions.  For  whom 
do  they  labour  ?  Not  more  for  themselves  than  for  us. 
Nay,  in  many  of  these  pious  labours,  they  are  directly 
helping  us  ;  they  are  taking  a  part  of  that  burden  on  them- 
selves, that  used  to  be  borne  by  us  alone. — They  are  doing 
for  us,  generously  and  nobly,  a  part  of  our  special  business. 
And  shall  there  be  a  creature  in  the  form  of  a  man,  so  much 
without  the  spirit  of  a  man,  as  to  hinder,  and  not  help  them, 
while  thus  employed — to  mock  them  with  laughter  or  rid- 
icule, or  even  to  treat  them  with  a  cold  and  discouraging 
neglect?  Such  a  being,  I  trust  there  is  not  in  this  assem- 
bly. Ah!  my  brethren,  the  hour  is  not  far  distant,  when 
to  have  helped  the  cause  of  God  and  Christ,  in  this  dark 
and  perishing  world, — to  have  helped  this  sacred  cause  but 
in  a  feeble,  if  it  has  been  an  upright  manner — will  avail  us 
infinitely  more,  than  to  have  received  the  proudest  distinc- 
tions which  the  world  can  confer. 

And  now,  hearers  of  all  descriptions,  I  call  on  you  to 
help  these  women,  on  the  present  occasion,  by  a  liberal 
contribution  to  their  funds.  But  think  not  that  I  am  going 
to  address  you,  for  this  purpose,  in  the  language  and  tone 
of  a  mendicant.  I  read  no  such  address,  no  such  language, 
in  my  Bible.  Paul  indeed  sometimes  appealed  earnestly 
to  the  liberality  of  the  primitive  churches,  and  sometimes 
warmly  commended  them  for  it.  But  he  never  presented 
himself  before  them  in  the  character  and  style  of  a  beggar. 
No.  But  he  directed  Timothy  to  "charge  them  that  are 
rich  in  this  world — to  be  rich  in  good  works,  ready  to  dis- 
tribute, willing  to  communicate."  And  a  greater  than  Paul 
commended  the  two  mites  of  a  poor  widow  cast  into  the 
treasury  of  the  Lord,  beyond  all  the  offerings  of  the  rich. 
— Therefore,  men  and  brethren,  it  is  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord,  unworthy  as  I  am,  that  I  come  to  you  ;  and  I  de- 
liver to  you  his  charge,  and  not  my  own,  that,  for  his  sake, 
and  for  your  ownsakcs,  you  help  these  women  who  laboui 


28 

in  the  gospel.  I  tell  you  in  his  name,  that  the  day  is  com- 
ing that  will  call  you  to  account  before  Him,  as  the  judge 
of  quick  and  dead,  for  the  manner  in  which  you  shall  have 
disposed  of  all  your  property — the  day  when  what  you 
shall  now  give,  if  you  give  it  from  right  motives,  will  af- 
ford you  more  pleasure,  than  all  that  you  ever  spent  in  lux- 
ury, and  show,  and  superfiuous  formal  gratification.  Give 
then  from  a  pure,  a  noble,  a  truly  benevolent  desire  to  do 
good.  Give  thus,  I  repeat  it,  for  your  own  sakes,  and  for 
the  sake  of  your  Saviour's  precious  cause,  and  as  you  will 
wish  to  have  done,  when  he  shall  say  to  those  on  his  right 
hand — 0  !  may  you  and  I  be  there — "  Come  ye  blessed 
of  my  Father,  inherit  the  kingdom  prepared  for  you  from 
the  foundation  of  the  world  :  For  1  was  an  hungered,  and 
ye  gave  me  meat :  I  was  thirsty  and  ye  gave  me  drink  :  I 
was  a  stranger  and  ye  took  me  in  :  Naked  and  ye  clothed 
me  :  I  was  sick  and  ye  visited  me  :  I  was  in  prison  and 
ye  came  unto  me— Verily  I  say  unto  you,  inasmuch  as  ye 
have  done  it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these  my  brethren,  ye 
have  done  it  unto  me — Enter  ye  into  the  joy  of  your 
Lord." — Amenv 


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